I’m convinced now, more than ever, that super simple things done habitually in education gets the job done! That’s the good news!
The hard part is that we have to do the RIGHT super simple things to get results. One of the challenges so many educators are facing is that, with our Common Core implementation, we have too many resources…way too many things that distract, confuse and overwhelm us. We can’t seem to get to “super simple” and “habitual” very quickly.
Can you relate?
I’d like to start combating this today – with this super simple checklist for planning close reading. While we know that just by teaching/doing close reading, we aren’t necessarily teaching the standards, but we do know that close reading is the VEHICLE for teaching the standards.
Close Read 1 – Elementary
Purpose for reading is established
____Pre-teaching (vocabulary and background knowledge) was limited to only that which was necessary and still required the reader to read the text
____Teachers pose text dependent questions that required the reader to address the text explicitly ensuring the reader understands and thinks about the major ideas in the story or article:
____RI.1 Focus: Ask and answer questions, referring to text
____RI.2 Focus: Refer to the main idea of the text and the key details
____RI.3 Focus: Describe a series of relationships and their connection to one another
____Students discuss what the text says with others using academic vocabulary and citing evidence within the text
____Teacher facilitates the discussion and redirects students back to the text when necessary
Close Read 2 – Secondary
____Teacher establishes the purpose for reading without extensive background knowledge (allowing the text to be the source of learning)
____Pre-teaching vocabulary and background knowledge (limited to what was necessary to understand text and standard while still require requiring the reader to read the text.
____Teacher poses text-based questions that required the reader to address the text explicitly, as well as any inferences drawn from the text.
____RI.1 Focus: Ask and answer questions, referring to textual evidence to support analysis
____RI.2 Focus: Determine a central idea of the text and analyze its development over the course of the text (include how it emerges, is shaped and refined by specific details from the text
____RI.3 Focus: Analyze the order in which points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them in the text
____Students discuss the text with others using academic vocabulary and the text as evidence.
____Students can objectively summarize text
____Teacher redirects students back to the text when answering questions and discussing the text.